Improving patient and GP information and communication with an electronic care plan

Patients at Footscray Hospital will receive a personalised care plan summary which has the following components including Cancer stage, Planned treatment, Planned follow-up visits and Cancer helpline resources. The care plan summary will be generated and provided to the patient during their second consultation with the oncology clinician. The consultation with the clinician will usually take approximately 30 minutes where they are provided the care plan and informed that they will be asked to complete a survey about how useful the care plan is in 6 months. The patient will be approached to complete the survey at a further consultation with the clinician. The care plan summary will be generated from a HREC approved colorectal registry which all colorectal cancer patients at Footscray Hospital are entered into. This study utilised a waiver of consent approach where the participants will be told about the study and a questionnaire which will be provided to them for completion after they have completed their first course of the treatment. No written consent will be obtained from the participants. The duration of the study is approximately 7 months. The plan is to roll this out to other centres and for other tumour streams if determined to be an effective communication tool.